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SUMMER 2009

Old-House Journal’s

12 Old-House Journal’s New Old House Summer 2009

Drafting BoarD

Porches are made for summer. They’re made for rocking chairs and lemonade, outdoor dining, sunsets, and welcoming evening breezes. But from an architectural point of view, a porch is more than a spot for summer relaxation. And for an archi-tect, designing a porch offers a number of challenges: Porches are transitional spaces, so they must embrace their exte-rior surroundings while also enhancing a home’s interior and honoring its architec-tural style and its structure. Recently, New York-based architect John B. Murray and his team took on such a challenge for a house in Northwestern Connecticut.

Murray was hired by the owners of a nine-year-old Colonial Revival in part to correct a deficiency with their side porch. The house (which Murray’s firm hadn’t designed) had a 12x14-foot screened enclosure at its Southwestern corner. “The client found the porch wasn’t as attractive a room as they’d hoped, and it wasn’t working for the way the family wanted to use it,” he explains. They asked Murray to create something more useful and more refined than the existing porch while simultaneously reworking key inte-riors, such as the kitchen, basement, and a few common rooms. When complete, Murray’s design would give the owners a handsome outdoor veranda, a space that would have a better relationship to the house’s interior and to the surrounding landscape and function better for this active, energetic family of five.

“The client’s vision was largely based in a need,” Murray says. “The screened porch by itself was just too confining and too contained. In a way, it was a dead end. And the clients also wanted to reorganize the kitchen to create a place where they could prepare summer lunches and other family meals and to carve out some new, comfortable areas for their family.”

Sitting Pretty

Architect John B. Murray creates a stunning porch addition to a Colonial Revival house. Text by J. Robert Ostergaard Photos by James Bleeker

The addition of a veranda on the western gabled end of this Colonial Revival house created an expansive outdoor room and a spacious second-story deck. It overlooks a pool and pavilion, and greatly expands the family’s living space, particularly during warmer months. Between the Doric columns, architect John B. Murray specified airy, open-patterned railings, which contrast to the heavier urn-shaped balusters above.

Summer 2009 Old-House Journal’s New Old House 13


Drafting BoarD

The sitting area around the outdoor fireplace is tucked in and defined by the projection of the mudroom entrance, leading the eye southward toward the land-scaped grounds and the lakefront. The two-sided fireplace—red brick to match the foundation—is flanked by double-hung windows in the new family room.

To accommodate these needs, Murray enclosed the old screened porch and constructed a new veranda, which allowed for a reconfiguring of several interiors. In place of the old porch, Murray fashioned a family room that opens directly into the kitchen. A back-to-back fireplace between the family room and veranda links the two spaces together and serves as the focal point of an east-west axis along the rear of the house. A tinted glass unit was installed between the mudroom and kitchen. “It’s a way of carrying the axis through and bringing the light from the veranda through the mudroom and into that corner of the kitchen,” Murray says. Looking from the laundry room and the mudroom into the family room, the eye is drawn to the southern corner of the veranda and to a lake beyond. Above a family game table, Murray designed a monitor—a historically appropriate natural-lighting feature—directly in line with this north-south axis. “There’s a sense of organization, so all the elements are play-ing off each other in a nice arrangement.”

From the exterior, the veranda enlivens and activates a num-ber of different areas. The owners had recently installed a pool and pavilion, so the new veranda extends along most of the west-

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ern side of the house, looking out toward the pool. The veranda also wraps around to the south, where it meets a fieldstone terrace overlooking the lake. Murray and his team, including project architect Adam C. Platt, installed a pergola the length of the ter-race, using Doric columns to match those on the veranda. Where the two structures meet, a barbecue grill is nestled into a corner. “It’s just one easy step down from the veranda,” Murray says, “so it activates this part of the terrace. And the veranda anchors what is really the activity corner of the house. The southwest corner is where everything converges.” Bringing the veranda around to the southern side of the house also allowed Murray to re-imagine the entrance to the basement, which he outfitted as a playroom for the owner’s three children as well as a gym, sauna, and a wine cellar. “The new veranda created the connection to this space,” Murray says, “with areaway steps that are graciously proportioned and that lead you down into a passage point to the basement.”

The veranda gave new life to areas above, too. The owner’s second-floor study now opens onto a large deck through a single door to the west and a pair of French doors to the south. When opened, the French doors provide enviable views to the lake from the owner’s desk. The second story deck is “a grown up place,” Murray says. “And it’s very open, whereas, downstairs it’s protected and more like an outdoor room.” The veranda’s fireplace, mahoga-ny wood floors, and V-groove boarded ceiling enhance that room-like feeling. “So now the spaces work for the whole family,” Murray says. “And they all work together, inside and out.” NOH

J. Robert Ostergaard is a freelance writer living in New York.

For Resources, see page 70.

The installation of a pergola on the terrace softened and refined the light coming into the kitchen, center hallway, living room, and sunroom. The veranda wraps around the house to meet the pergola, tying together the exteriors and enabling Murray to develop a new entrance to the basement, which was converted into a playroom, gym, sauna, and wine cellar.

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ResouRces

DRAFTING BOARD, PAGE 14John B. Murray Architect 48 West 37th StreetNew York, NY 10018212.242.8600www.jbarchitect.com

DESIGN DETAILS, PAGE 18California Paintswww.californiapaints.com

Farrow & Ball www.farrow-ball.com

Valspar www.valspar.com

Old Fashioned Milk Paints www.milkpaint.com

TRADITIONAL TRADES, PAGE 22Frank Shirley Architects75 Henry StreetCambridge, MA 02139617.547.3355www.frankshirleyarchitects.com

STYLE NOTEBOOK, PAGE 30Urban Archaeology www.urbanarchaeology.com

Vaughanwww.vaughandesigns.com

VISION QUEST, PAGE 30ARCHITECTFerguson Shamamian Architects270 Lafayette Street, Suite 300New York, NY 10012212.941.8088www.fergusonshamamian.com

DISHY DETAILS, PAGE 42ARCHITECTPrecedent Design Works 18 Creek RoadBremen, ME 04551207.529.2987www.precedentdesign.com

MOUNTAIN TIME, PAGE 46ARCHITECT Historical Concepts430 Prime Point, Suite 103Peachtree City, GA 30269770.487.8041www.historicalconcepts.com

MAIDEN VOYAGE, PAGE 54ARCHITECT Cooper Johnson Smith 102 South 12th StreetTampa, FL 33602813.273.0034www.cjsarch.com


Heirloom Gardens

Recently I was called out to consult with a family who had just built a pool. There had been no designer for the project, other than the general contractor, who had simply installed the largest possible pool in the space available. The result was, frankly, a disaster. The pool sat only five feet from the main patio doors, leaving almost no room for adequate seating. Then there was the fencing—a horrible picket conglomeration that in no way matched the modern style of the house. Worse, the pool area had been terraced, with the result that a foot or two off the back of the pool deck, the land dropped more than 10 feet. While such earthworks work well with the Pacific Ocean as a backdrop, peering down the hill into the bedroom win-dows of the nearby houses did nothing to enhance the owner’s privacy or that of the neighbors. Of course, by the time I arrived, it was too late to do much with-out huge expense, except, to paraphrase Frank Lloyd Wright, “plant vines,” but all this could have been prevented with some design forethought. If you’re con-templating building a pool or renovating an old one, here are some tips to keep in mind.

Location, Location, Location The old adage for positioning a pool is to pick the sunniest spot available, as solar warmth will benefit both the bather and the pool by keeping heating costs to a minimum. However, there’s a caveat to this: if picking the sunniest location means having the pool directly underfoot, I generally opt for siting the pool at a decent remove from the house, and forgoing a bit of the sun. Pools are beautiful only when they are in opera-tion, and in many parts of the country, that’s only a few months of the year.

For the rest of the time, they sit gloom-ily swathed in tarps, awaiting warmer weather. For larger properties, the ideal location is generally in a separate garden area, not too far from the house to render unpleasant those inevitable refreshment runs to the kitchen, but not so close as to prevent some visible separation from the main windows of the house. In smaller properties, where space is limited, I often shrink the pool to the minimum usable size in order to maximize the landscaping potential around the pool area. If, for example, your intention is to create a place for kids to splash and cool off, you don’t need a 75-foot lap pool. Knowing how you’ll use your pool, and planning its shape accordingly, will save considerable dollars in the long run.

Fencing and PrivacyAlmost inevitably, local building codes mandate that pools must be enclosed by fencing to prevent accidental access. This generally means some type of bar-rier that can’t be easily climbed by young children. While the specificity of the regulations limits the number of fence options, that doesn’t mean that you should abandon the old adage of match-ing the style of your fence to the style of your house. All too often, people simply choose the quickest and most expedi-ent means of fencing without regard to aesthetics. This can quickly lead to your pool looking like a prison yard. Carefully consider your house, assess its style, and choose a fence that matches the mate-rial and color palette of your home. And when deciding where to run the fence, make sure to leave sufficient space for landscaping inside the pool area as well as for privacy plantings outside the perimeter, if required. Nothing kills the romance of a late-night dip like being

Poolscapes

Our garden expert reveals a few tips for making a splash in your landscape. Text by Michael Weishan


John B. Murray Architect, LLC, designed this pool pavilion of perfect pro-portion for a home in Greenwich, Connecticut. Murray incorporated an outdoor fireplace on the pavilion terrace to be enjoyed during moonlit dips.

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Heirloom Gardens

under the prying gaze of your neighbors. Pools by their very nature are private places, and require a sufficient sense of enclosure to achieve the intimacy they, and you, deserve.

PlantingBar none, the best landscaping on your property should be around your pool. Think about it: With the average in-ground construction running about $50,000, pools are a major financial undertaking—one made on the pre-sumption that you will be spending a considerable amount of time in the good weather months benefiting from this investment. So, make it count. Choose plant materials that delight all the sens-es. The area surrounding the pool is

an ideal location for massing fragrant plants, plants with interesting shapes or foliage, plants with exfoliating bark, plants with masses of color. And don’t forget about a bit of shade. While many people love to bake in full sun, many don’t, especially on the hottest days, and a small tree or two, or a vine covered pergola, or some other means of cast-ing shadow, will be welcome relief when the temperatures soar. One caveat here though: choose plants around the pool area that don’t shed a continuous host of leaves, blossoms, seedpods or debris: otherwise you’ll create a maintenance nightmare. And any trees you include in your design should be sufficiently distant at maturity not to overhang the water, again for obvious reasons.

Practical Advice Building a pool can be one of the most satisfying of all landscape projects—nothing says luxurious indulgence like a quick dip in your own personal oasis. But building a pool can also be one of the most frustrating experiences imaginable, due in large part to the many unscru-pulous contractors that abound in this field. Think “used car,” and you’ll get the picture. Before you settle on a builder, obtain at least five references; then call, or preferably visit, each and every one. Inquire about the ease of the working experience. Was the project delivered on time? Did all the subcontractors do what they were supposed to do? And most importantly, was the project delivered on budget? This last is a real

Horiuchi Solien designed this breathtaking pool and patio in Falmouth, Massachusetts. Many of the plantings around the pool are sequestered in containers for easy care. P

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minefield, as often pool contracts are presented to unwary clients with all sorts of missing or underestimated expenses. For instance, does the electrical budget include both the cost of the equipment and the electrician? (Often the labor, the majority of the cost, is left out in the fine print.) What are the exact dollar allowances for each individual item on the contract? (Many times, allowances for options such as tile and plastering are extremely meager, with a miniscule selection range. A small upgrade in til-ing, for example, from the two or three unattractive options included in the base contract, can easily add thousands of dol-lars, so settle these items before agreeing on a final price.) And be sure to ask spe-cifically: Are there any missing or hid-

den costs in this contract, like water? As crazy as it sounds, many pool companies sell you the pool without water, and that added expense, at the very tail end of the project, can easily add an additional thousand dollars. All in all, it’s enough to drive the uniformed buyer mad, so be sure to do your homework, both financial and design, before you sign the contract. If you do, you’ll guarantee smooth sailing, or rather swimming, for many happy years to come.

Michael Weishan is a freelance writer and owner of Michael Weishan & Associates. He has authored many books, including The New Victory Garden and The Victory Gardening Guide. For more information, visit www.michaelweishan.com

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